Two Feet in the Dirt

Remember those pesky little cucumber beetles I talked about a few times last year? Shown in the picture above (taken last year), they cause double damage by creating scar marks on crops in the cucurbit family like squash and cucumber and transmitting a disease called bacterial wilt that can kill the entire plant. They tend to get to work early, making their first appearance in the late spring even though they prey on heat-loving summer crops, which means that they can definitely do some damage to young cucumber and squash plants when they first get planted outside. As we near the first frost dates around our region and it gets to be time to plant those summer crops, I thought it would be a good time to share this piece of advice from Penn State for protecting young cucurbit plants from the beetles:

1. Cover plants with row cover as soon as they are put into the ground. Cover the entire anticipated growing area including any trellis or structure.

2. Remove covering 10 days after the first blossom opens. The cover must be removed so that bees, etc., can enter the flowers for pollination to occur. The cover must remain in place for at least ten days. Err on more days’ side if your schedule does not allow for exactly ten.

In the Penn State reports, cucurbits grown in the state following this plan produced marketable crops both earlier in the season and with higher yields across the entire season. Give it a try and see what the results are for you!